Now Reading: CAG flags Rs 3,400 crore misuse of railway safety fund
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CAG flags Rs 3,400 crore misuse of railway safety fund
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found that Indian Railways diverted Rs 3,397.60 crore from the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) to non-safety works between 2022-23 and 2024-25. The fund…
The Story in Brief
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found that Indian Railways diverted Rs 3,397.60 crore from the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) to non-safety works between 2022-23 and 2024-25. The fund was used for computerisation, staff amenities, passenger facilities and research instead of safety-related projects like preventing derailments and collisions. The RRSK, created in 2017-18, was allocated Rs 1.27 lakh crore over eight years.
The CAG report adds that railways contributed only Rs 5,324.62 crore from internal resources against a target of Rs 25,000 crore in the first five years. Over 20,304 safety works remain incomplete, with a pending liability of Rs 2.29 lakh crore. Contributions to the Depreciation Reserve Fund and Development Fund also fell sharply after the RRSK was created.
The Indian Opinion
The CAG report on the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh exposes a pattern where funds earmarked for safety are diverted to other expenses. It is easy to cry foul, but the core issue is whether the railway board treats safety as a real priority or just a budget line. The numbers to watch are the completion rate of those 20,304 pending safety works and whether the 2024-25 Budget restores the promised Rs 25,000 crore contribution from internal resources. Until then, every accident raises a question: whose priorities were served?
Sources (2): bazaar.businesstoday.in, bazaar.businesstoday.in (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
